Operation Red Wings

Operation Red Wings took place from 27 June to July 2005 during the Afghanistan War. The United States launched a military operation to eliminate anti-coalition militia leader Ahmad Shah and his forces in Kunar Province ahead of the Afghan parliamentary elections, hoping to stabilize the region. However, the Taliban forces ambushed the four-man US Navy SEALs team and killed three of them, and they also killed 16 more SEALs and Night Stalkers when they shot down their Chinook helicopter, which had been dispatched to extract the team. The insurgents suffered heavy losses and were temporarily forced to retreat, but the insurgents returned three weeks later, necessitating Operation Whalers. This operation ultimately succeeded in destroying Shah's forces, avenging the disaster of Operation Red Wings.

Background
In 2005, Afghanistan was scheduled to hold its first parliamentary elections since the fall of the Taliban regime four years earlier. While many of Afghanistan's provinces were stable at the time, Kunar Province continued to be restive, as an alliance of Taliban, al-Qaeda, and local criminal fighters banded together to form an anti-coalition militia under Ahmad Shah. The US command at Bagram believed that, in order for fair elections to be held in September, the insurgent threat in Kunar would have to be eliminated. Ahmad Shah, a close associate of Osama Bin Laden who had killed 20 US Marine Corps soldiers in one week, was the target of the operation, as was his second-in-command, Taraq. The goal would be for a team of US Navy SEALs to eliminate the Taliban presence in the Shuryek Valley of Kunar, near the provincial capital of Asadabad.

Operation
Late in the night of 27 June 2005, a four-man Navy SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance team was deployed by Chinook to a saddle between Sawtalo Sar and Gatigal Sar, and the team members deployed were Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy, Petty Officer Second Class Danny Dietz, Petty Officer Second Class Matthew Axelson, and Navy Hospital Corpsman Second Class Marcus Luttrell. They moved to a predetermined overwatch position, where they were discovered by local goat herders. Determining that they were civilians, the team - despite debate over whether to set them free and risk death, tie them up and risk civilian deaths, or kill them and break the rules of engagement - released them. Surmising that they would be compromised, they retreated to a fallback position, intending on aborting the mission. However, they were attacked by Taliban gunmen, and the heavily outnumbered squad suffered heavy wounds from both combat and from jumping off the edge of a ridge and into a large ravine. The SEALs made a defensive retreat into the steep woods, but Dietz's shouting questions at Luttrell revealed the team's positions and led to further combat. Murphy and Axelson jumped off another ridge, while Luttrell tried to carry Dietz down the mountain; Dietz was shot again, and Luttrell fell off of the cliff. Dietz, who remained at the top of the cliff, was killed by the Taliban. Murphy attempted to climb back up the cliff to call for support, with Axelson and Luttrell providing cover fire. Murphy was able to alert Lieutenant Commander Erik S. Kristensen of his team's predicament and request assistance before he was killed himself by the Taliban.

In response to Murphy's distress call, a quick reaction force made up by SEALs led by Kristensen himself boarded Chinook helicopters and headed toward the location without gunship escort. When they arrived, the Taliban shot down one of the helicopters, killing all aboard, including Kristensen and Shane Patton. Luttrell hid in a rock crevice, heavily wounded, until villager Mohammad Gulab rescued him and hid him in his home; he sent a mountain man to the nearest American base to alert them of his location. The Taliban entered the village searching for the American, but the villagers threatened to kill the Taliban if they did so. The Taliban later returned to attack the village, but the villagers held out until American reinforcements arrived and repelled the insurgents. Luttrell thanked the villagers who had saved him and was evacuated, and he narrowly survived his wounds.

Aftermath
The Taliban fighters managed to recover American equipment left behind by the bodies, and Shah and his men left the region and regrouped in Pakistan, where they were hailed as anti-Coalition heroes. Additional troops joined Shah's militia, which was ultimately dealt with during Operation Whalers in August 2005. Shah's group in Kunar Province was neutralized and Shah himself was severely wounded, and he was killed in a shootout with Pakistani police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2008.